England take control of World Cup play-off with win in Greece

England are in control of their World Cup play-off with Greece after winning the first leg 3-1 in Crete. Goals from Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo moved the Lionesses into a strong position for Tuesday's second leg in Leicester. Calliste Brookshire, who plays for Rangers in Scotland, pulled one back late on for a Greece side ranked 58th in the world. The winner will play Slovakia or Ukraine in round two on the road to Brazil 2027.

Lauren James saw a stunning chip from long range ruled out for offside in the first half, and the Lionesses, forced into the play-offs after finishing behind Spain in qualifying, were not at their sharpest in that period. They were almost shocked when Ioanna Papatheodorou cracked a shot against the crossbar from 35 yards.

England grabbed the advantage when Stanway finished a slick move combining with Laura Blindkilde Brown and Russo. After the break, Le Tissier thumped in from an angle before Russo found the bottom corner from Beth Mead's square pass just four minutes later, as England swiftly took the game away from Greece.

Brookshire's neat footwork in the box gave the underdogs some hope, but Jess Park blasted a shot against the underside of the crossbar in stoppage time. This perhaps signals that Sarina Wiegman's side have more firepower in their arsenal for the return leg.

英格兰在克里特岛首回合以3-1战胜希腊，掌控了世界杯附加赛的局势。乔治娅·斯坦威、玛雅·勒蒂西耶和阿莱西亚·拉索的进球，使狮子军团在周二于莱斯特进行的次回合中占据有利位置。来自苏格兰流浪者队的卡利斯特·布鲁克希尔在比赛接近尾声时为排名世界第58位的希腊队扳回一球。胜者将在第二轮对阵斯洛伐克或乌克兰，争取晋级2027年巴西世界杯的道路。

劳伦·詹姆斯在上半场一记从远处打出的精彩挑射因越位被判无效，而狮子军团在资格赛中位列西班牙之后，因此不得不参加附加赛，那段时间他们的状态并不出色。伊奥安娜·帕帕西奥多卢从35码外的一脚射门击中横梁，英格兰队几乎为之震惊。

英格兰率先取得领先，是斯坦威在一次漂亮的配合中完成射门，该配合有劳拉·布林迪尔德·布朗和拉索参与。易边之后，勒蒂西耶从斜角重炮轰入一球，四分钟后拉索接到贝斯·米德的横传，将球打进底角，英格兰迅速掌控了比赛。

布鲁克希尔在禁区内的娴熟脚法为弱队带来了一丝希望，但伤停补时阶段，西蒙·帕克一脚射门击中横梁下沿。这或许预示着萨琳娜·威格曼的球队在回合中拥有更多火力。